"Thank you for your help," Oreius cut in. "Perhaps we can talk later."

He was aloof at best, but the Toa of fire didn't have the time nor the patience for small talk, especially now. He continued on his way, supporting Korero as he set a course for the aforementioned treatment station.

"Look, this ain't optimal, I know," I whispered, "but jumping down throats isn't gonna get us anywhere right now. Something like this, we need to be -- and I can't believe that I'm saying this, but -- we need to be rational and clear-headed here."

-Void

IC:

"If I jumped down his throat-" Kethrye whispered in dry return. "-I wouldn't get an answer."

He knew that Plagia was right, however. No mater how uncomfortable he was with the situation, now was not the best time for that confrontation. Better to watch , and wait. All would come to light eventually.

Kethrye's only fear was that it would come too late.

"Um, excuse my outburst, Toa Zauk. It is not my place to make demands of you like that. Have one karz of a hangover, so neither my patience or tact are what they should." He grinned apologetically at the Toa of Lightning, the expression a sharp contrast to the suspicion still glinting in his eyes.

Bohrei Tantarus had just finished putting away the last of her dead for the day when she heard the quake.

It arrived quickly, as all quakes did. There were the murmurs, first, unconfirmed reports and worried-looking Matoran relaying messages to and from the Guard, then panicked footsteps, shouts and commands that rumbled through the earth and reached her lab below the Guard’s headquarters.

When it finally reached her ears, she began to move slowly and methodically, half by age and half by habit. She gathered what would be necessary: a clean black labcoat, carefully cut to accommodate a Skakdi’s spines; a bag, unassuming and resilient, packed with scalpel and pliers and spreader; three empty notebooks. She did not rush to join her comrades – it was not her place to try and stop the quake.

Her place was in the ruins.

She had stayed at the Lavapool Inn once, when she first came to Ta-Koro, and so she allowed herself a pang of regret as she stepped over the foundation and into the smoking husk. Who attends to the death of a building?

All around her, members of the Guard were picking through the rubble, barking orders, searching. Few paid any heed to her, as they had learned to do, and so she paid no heed to them. She closed her eyes a moment and focused. When she reopened them, she could see what she needed to.

Beneath a fallen pillar, a single red hand lay lifeless. Silently, she joined the guards in teasing out the rest of him.

When it was done, she knelt, shrugged her bag from her shoulder, and began. The Matoran’s armor was crushed to his body; wordlessly, she pulled the pliers from her bag and attempted to slot them into the crack between the neck and the chest. No good. She frowned.

“You,” she called to a guardswoman ten feet ahead of her, a stocky, short Toa. The guard jumped, then looked around nervously, her eyes wide behind her Hau.

“Me, ma’am?”

“Yes.” Bohrei gestured to the body. “I need you to hold him still for me so I can open his armor.”

The guard took a step back. “I’m – meant to be keeping a lookout-“

“You and half a dozen others. This will only take a moment. If you can’t handle a body, ask one of them.”

She saw the guard swallow, then cross the distance between them in two sharp steps. “Good. Hold him here and here.”

She adjusted the angle of her tool, slipped it into a ridge along the middle of the chest, and gave two short, sharp twists.

The armor split off with a bloody crack. The guard’s hands were shaking. Bohrei noticed, gave no comment, and peered into the Matoran’s chest; the layers within him faded in and out of view as she ran down a mental checklist. She drew a pen and notebook from her bag.

“Name?”

The guard jumped. “Uh, Telana-“

“His name.”

“I, er, let me check his personal effects-“

While she waited, she filled in the rest of the preliminary data. Young adult. Average height and weight for elemental affiliation and gender. No obvious pre-mortem physical deformities. Cause of death:

She paused and looked the body over once more. The Matoran’s mouth was open, pushed against his Kaukau.

Suffocation due to crushed lungs. Likely accelerated due to hemorrhaging from internal trauma. Full examination to follow.

“Mysel,” Telana said, looking very hard at the Matoran’s wallet and not the Matoran.

Name: Mysel.

“Good,” she said, and snapped the notebook shut. “Next.”

The guard blinked nervously. “You mean, again?”

“Until there are no more left.”

“The coroner! Is the coroner here?”

She sighed and held up a hand; Telana lowered the lifeless head of a girl they’d found under what was left of the bar with obvious relief. The voice belonged to a Ta-Matoran of the Guard, one she hadn’t seen before.

She stood to meet him. “I’m the coroner, and as you can imagine, I’m rather busy. What’s happened?”

“It’s – at the Suva, ma’am. They’ve called for you specifically. They say it’s an emergency.” The messenger was wringing his hands

She closed her eyes and sighed. “Take me there.”

Behind her, Telana ventured, “Do you need me to come with, miss-“

“No. Believe me, child. Your life will be a better one if you never know what a coroner’s emergency entails.”

For a long time, she said nothing. The inspector who had called for her watched in silence.

When she finally spoke, her voice was cold. “Cut her down. She’s coming back with me.”

After she handed her report to Inspector Mataara, the coroner returned to the victim and offered her a prayer.

“You died alone,” she said softly, resting her hand on the remains of the woman’s. “Doing what you thought was right. You had nobody waiting for you back home, and so you thought that would make death hurt less. In the end, it didn’t.

“Your death was defiled. Someone made it a twisted thing, ensconced in lies and chaos. Your killer hid his tracks well, not because he thought we wouldn’t catch him that way, but because it pleased him to know he could cause any small confusion.”

She put her hand to what remained of the body’s cheek. “If Mata Nui is good, you know some semblance of peace now. But I promise you: your death will not be forgotten. And though bringing the truth of it to light may do nothing to change it, it does not deserve to be buried in cruelty and deception forever.”

The room was silent. Bohrei stood there a while longer, and then went to her bag. She had yet to open the third notebook. She did so now, calmly, and lifted her pen from the table.

PIRAKA

Victim one:

Name: Patunga Miralis

Age: …

Little had changed when she stepped back out into the Ta-Koro evening, and to an outside observer that included her. She took a deep breath. There was much that needed to be done. Speak to the inspectors and review the scene. Interview witnesses. Examine the other victims from the rampage. The first would take her to the Suva, the last to the hospital, and the second – wherever it had to.

The quake had passed; it was time to listen for the aftershocks.

Edited by GSR, Jul 13 2014 - 01:22 AM.

2

My current life status is [low-level internal screaming], so I'm not very active at the moment. Please reach out to me directly as needed - thanks.

Kethrye swayed a fraction to his left under her weight, but did not stumble. His countenance brightened, in truth instead of facade, at Plagia and Helios's banter. He forgotten how good it was to be surrounded by friends, the hole the lack of camaraderie had left in his life.

IC: Deactivating his mask the messenger stopped in front of the Ta-koro Gates. The nearby Dark Walk entrance looked to have collapsed and from the looks of things the koro was on high alert or at least had just been so, judging from the fact that the gates were now open.

Answering the questions from Guards at the gate truthfully, he made his way inside the town and to the office of the Akiri. Dropping off one of the six packages at the receptionist's desk, the messenger made their way back out of the koro and on to the next leg of his journey.

OOC: Messenger to Ga-wahi.

0

"I serve the weak. I serve the helpless. I am their sword and their shield. If you want to strike at them, you must go through me, and I am not so easily moved."

The Toa of Lightning was kneeling down, near the edge of the pile of dust that had been the mighty beast trying to kill them not minutes before. His gaze was fixed upon the bone-white stone situated at it's center, though he spoke to those standing behind him.

"No, no. My apologies," He said, his voice coming in low breaths, his words would have otherwise been inaudible if it weren't for the fact that they were situated in the middle of nowhere, "I did not believe that any further information was relevant. I'm afraid I haven't quite shaken the Ko-Koroan "only what's needed", I'm sure you understand."

The hunter raised his hand outward towards the mound of dust, his mask flaring briefly before the white rock lifted itself from the ground and drifted lazily over to him, staying suspended in the air just in front of his hand.

"Though, I had no idea..."

He trailed off, his focus turning towards the vaguely-Jaga-shaped form on the ground, his brow furrowing.

"This isn't a Nui Jaga."

"No ####, genius," Came a remark from Tehlin, who was standing off to the side, swinging one of his axes from one hand to another.

Zauk ignored his verbal jab, continuing. "I've seen this material before, this... it's a Vatuka, though I've never seen one like this."

He closed his hand around the stone, and waiting to see if anything happened. When nothing did, he tossed it over to Plagia, who had been studying it before.

The two Maru arrived at the treatment station without incident. The Guard had set up a large tent, which shielded a dozen cots and half as many scurrying healers from the sparks that still drifted through the air. They received Korero professionally for the most part, though the Toa of Fire saw a few eyes widen, and heard the buzz of whispers rise around them as patients and nurses alike realized that one of the Toa Maru had been injured.

"You can leave now, sir," someone said. Oreius turned around to see a Toa of Ice wearing a mask of healing. "We've got him safe, if you have places you need to be. He'll be perfectly fine."

"I will stay here,"the Maru replied, without explanation or room for conversation.

The healer nodded, then continued about his work. He wasn't about to argue with the Toa-Protector of Ta-Koro.

If he were to be honest with himself, Stronin didn't exactly enjoy living in Ta-koro. There were things that he liked, sure, but as a whole, there wasn't much appeal in the village of fire, especially for someone who grew up in a world that was so open and expansive. The volcano continuously loomed over him, and the Charred Forest felt as if it was suffocating him. Had he been the man he once was, he would never have chosen to stay in the village. He was Po-koroan, born and bred (disregarding the large period of time he spent away from the village of stone), and it was distinctly uncomfortable living in such a ... "cramped" environment, so to speak.

Obligation, and a sense of kinship with the blacksmith that had taken him in, was really the only reason he had stayed in Ta-koro.

Yet she had gone off on a journey, leaving him in charge of her forge until she would return. No matter how much he wished to leave, it would be highly unlikely that he could without feeling a certain sense of guilt. After all, he was now on the "straight and narrow", although it could be argued that Stronin was still a thief at heart, despite his long period of community service. There was still a yearning there for the excitement and amusement of constant guard pursuit.

"Should I go back to that?" he mused as he placed another sword to the side. "It sounds nice."

The Iron Toa looked towards the door. He could leave if he wanted to. He could ditch Ta-koro and leave the forge in the hands of those he had hired until Soli finally made her return. He could simply give up on his duties and find more to do. It would be so easy. But deep inside, could he really do it?

It was surprising how easy it was to answer "yes".

"Better lock everything up though," muttered Stronin to himself. "It'd be terrible if I came back and found everything in ruins."

Korero was shocked by Oreius' brusque treatment of Jolek. There was a lot to do, but with the immediate danger having passed, his brother's rudeness seemed unnecessary, and reinforced his belief that something was troubling the Toa of Fire. Perhaps it was a simple reaction to the Piraka's rampage. Korero was sure that a similar attack on his own village would weigh heavily on him.

But Oreius was still something Korero had never been: a soldier. Duty, as far as the Toa of Air could tell, was incredibly important to him. It was impossible to be sure, but he wondered whether his Toa-brother was blaming himself for the attack and the damage it caused.

Indecision over how to tactfully raise the topic with Oreius kept him silent all the way to the triage centre.

It didn't take long for the Sana-using medic to close up the small wound on his head and lower the bruising, and after a few minutes' advice about concussion and so forth, he was declared free to go.

As they left the tent, he turned his attention back to the still-silent Toa of Fire.

The Ga-Matoran smiled warmly, despite slight disappointment in the testimonies she was hearing. Did she really live in a world where six (seemingly) ordinary Skakdi could destroy an inn? It had reminded her of the days of Makuta’s rule, where normal looking creatures around every corner were capable of performing extraordinary – almost paranormal – feats. Perhaps this attack was only a precursor?

Whether it is or not, I need to find more survivors and listen to their stories, Wokiya thought, It will take more than just two mouths to have the rock solid truth in hand.

“Thanks so very much for speaking with me, and for the cake,” Wokiya said to the two Toa, “I know that the people of Mata Nui will benefit from what you two have seen, and Ta-Koro will benefit once everyone knows that they really did do everything they could to protect this village. That makes it all the more important to get this story out there so that every village can work together to bring these Skakdi to justice.

“I’m afraid I must be on my way,” Wokiya said to Mekana with remorse, “But is there anything you would like to say before I go? Feel free to give me your words as well, Ophaim”

Chivinix infact had never heard of it, or it should be properly stated that compassion was something that was beaten out of his kind early on when you started feasting on the flesh of your neighbor. However now that he was the last of his kind, he did feel he need not be so.... savage but not quite compassionate either.

He leaned down close to Wryu spoke slowly

"Chivinix will take helpless toa to city of fire, only if toa gives chivinix something after she is... fixed."

"Youve got it, critter." She said through clenched teeth. "Although to truly fix me, its going to take a lot more that a few bandages and a plaster. Know any where that does therapy?" she smiled, and slipped into unconsciousness.

Chivinix shrugged as the toa went limp from unconsciousness, picking up her limp body in one of his clawed legs, while his wings began to beat furiously, managing to lift her limp form as he began the flight towards ta-koro. using his legs to carry her. One could almost see him look towards her form hungrily, as if debating something internally

The flight from their location in the charred forest to the front gates of Ta-koro would take a good 30 minutes, though thinking it wise not to fly into a armed area, carrying the body of a limp toa, chivinix landed a bit away from the gates and instead carried the toa up to the gates, slumped over one shoulder. When he made it to the gates, it appeared the city was in a post state of frazzle, not quite panic but not quire calm. Shrugging he quickly snatched a passing matoran on the street, stopping them with a hand on the shoulder and saying rather seriously

"Hospital?"

The matoran merely went wide-eyes and shakily pointed towards the proper building, which chivinix promptly began walking towards, leaving the matoran in a state of shock

OOC: So... never before seen, Vortixx sized insectoid with a partially unconscious toa slumped over his shoulder walking through the streets of Ta-koro. Any guards want to perhaps intervene? Or anyone really could.

Ril's gaze fell upon the insectoid making its way down the street with unconscious Toa in tow. The guard could honestly say that even after being turned into a tree, ending a factional dispute between some strange Toa and losing parts of his eye to Rahkshi, the being he was now watching seemed pretty interesting.

"Yo," he said, moving up the street to meet it. "What you doing there?"

If his eyes allowed for rolling, they would have rolled, but as it is a long, shrill sigh escaped chivinix as he only turned his head to gaze at what appeared to be another of these toa, fire no less. Someone should really put out so many fires.

"It does not concern toa."

And without waiting for a response, Chivinix attempted to continue on his way, towards the hospital. He adjusted his the weight on his shoulder, causing Wryu's somewhat limp form to bounce, head hitting his back. Clearly he was not overly concerned about any extra injuries she got, or the toa of fire he all but ignored.

"Helpless toa already hurt, any more injuries will not hurt her more."

His wings flicked in minor frustration. He hated being in such a confining space... actually it is the confinement that anger's him but the laws. in the past if Chivinix wanted something he would just kill fellow kind. Here he can't and that infuriates him more than any small space could